The facts show quite an opposite trend. After Israel left Gaza and Hamas took over the average Gazan’s conditions of living only worsened. Before Israel’s disengagement from Gaza in 2005, Gaza and Judea and Samaria (“West Bank”) shared a similar GDP per capita. In 2023, Judea and Samaria Palestinians have 3 times the GDP per capita compared to Gaza, even with a corrupt kleptocratic Palestinian Authority. Before the first Intifada, when Israel controlled the Gaza strip economic growth rate in the years 1967 to 1982 averaged roughly 9.7 percent year on year. This rate was a result of Palestinians who were free to work in Israel and learned skills which helped them develop their productivity. Gaza used to have an airport that opened in 1998 and was closed after the escalating violence.